Holmes and Crawford, now partners through the newly-formed Nash Square Hospitality group, plan to open Standard Foods in November at the Person Street Plaza retail center in downtown Raleigh.

Perhaps the reason that Standard Foods is getting so much attention is because of the time and attention that Holmes and Crawford have already put into its planning.

Standard Foods will be modeled, they say, after some of the neighborhood markets found along the streets of Brooklyn, with its own butcher shop and display cases for both the fresh meats and the fresh fish from the North Carolina coastline.

The duo have traveled together to Brooklyn, Atlanta and other places to gather ideas for the new business, but, Holmes says: “We are not going to Brooklyn and plotting that idea here. We want to celebrate where we live.”

At Standard Foods’ market, they say, there will be fresh produce from the Raleigh City Garden next door and other local farmers, as well as North Carolina cheeses and some of Crawford’s own specialty sauces, marinades and soups.

Breads and bakery products are already available in the same shopping center at the Yellow Dog Bread Company that’s now been open nearly a year, and wine available at the Wine Authorities store next door.

Crawford and Holmes also want to plant their own feeder garden at the back of the restaurant to grow some of the hard-to-find edible flowers, plants and herbs that are sometimes hard to source from other farmers that Crawford will use in his own dishes at the restaurant.

“We’re not trying to be a high-end Dean & DeLuca,” Crawford says. “I am committed to quality, but I am not committed to high end. You don’t need high end to have quality. And, that doesn’t mean it has to be expensive.”

Holmes says the interior of the store will be a modern interpretation of an old general store and neighborhood grocery. “It’s not going to be overly polished,” he says. Raleigh architecture firm New City Design is working with Standard Foods to finalize interior design plans.